Phew, just time to write a quick blog about the fantastic day I spent at Greystokes Cycle Cafe last week. Annie Swarbrick is the brains and (most of the braun) behind the cycle cafe. It is a much needed stop for weary cyclists on the C2C bike route, topping them up with hearty food and hot drinks, but it also provides a wide selection of interesting creative workshops for those active and not so active alike.

The lampshade printing workshop ran between 9.30am and 4.30pm and despite the lashing rain, my saith ladies were all prompt for the introduction and Annie's delicious homemade biscuits! The treats did not stop there, we were served lashings of fresh tea and coffee throughout the day. At lunch there was a fantastic selection of delicious homemade soups and savoury scones as well as apple and elderberry crumble and fruit pavlov roulade for afters. For those of us that had space, we were also treated to fresh warm scones with jam and cream with yet more hot tea at the end of the day, absolutely gorgeous!

The morning of the workshop was spent with an introduction and demonstration by myself before each person moved onto research and sketch their own stamp design. The final sketch was then transferred onto a sheet of craft foam using tracing paper. This was then carefully cut out using scalpels and scissors before being glued to a square of hardboard. When the stamps were nicely dry, it was onto colour mixing the inks, my favourite part! Each person experimented inking up the stamps with sponge rollers and brushes; perfecting their printing technique on a piece of scarp fabric, before moving onto the real piece. Then after a hearty lunch all of the messy work was complete and all that was left was for us to turn each piece of patterned fabric into a stylish drum lampshade!

There was a definite seaside theme this time, with puffins, beach huts and lighthouses as well as a cute dog face, some leaping hares, an array of hedgehogs and some fabulous stylised trees.

But enough from me, check out the photos for yourself.

Fancy having a go? Why not check out the dates at Greystoke for next year here http://goo.gl/V3dm1d

If you can't make those dates, then why not come along to a course run from my own studio. For dates visit my workshop page
http://goo.gl/B2hGTE

Lucy at the lovely shop Gone To Pot ion Boroughbridge also organises a number of evening lampshade making courses, run by myself, where you can stencil and make up your own shade using Annie Sloan fabric and famous Chalk Paint. Visit her Facebook page for more information http://goo.gl/BFBjx0.